You Can Run, But You Can't Hide
by M. C
Summary: Uploaded 3rd chap. Will keep going if I get enough positive/good critique reviews for me to go on with this, as since the latest chapter is just character interaction. R/R!
1. Default Chapter

**You Can Run, But You Can't Hide**

By M. C.

**Disclaimer: **_Yes, I'm back, and I'm trying to make a particularly effective Halloween story that crosses B:tVS with the mother of all horror films, _Halloween_. Since I've only seen the first, second, fourth and fifth films, I can only go on what I know about the Celtic ritual that links Michael's ongoing killing spree from reading basic summaries of _Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. _The first chapter is rated PG for adult situations, but further chapters will be a hard R for strong violence/gore, language and sexual content. And this is a really short chapter, but I'm working on lengthier ones as I go on. Critique and suggestions would be really appreciated. --M. C._

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**Chapter 1**

Buffy stood back, wiping the sweat off her forehead. She stood back from the pile of moving boxes to look at the new surroundings that would soon be Willow's new temporary home. It was triggered a month earlier upon the incident where Willow had accidentally been left in a cave where a demon had trapped her and was starting to feast on her. Buffy, Xander and Anya had come to the rescue in time and Buffy had dispatched the demon, appropriately named Gnarl. 

Physically, Willow was all right. The daily meditation that Willow had practiced and the magic that she used had quickly mended the wounds in a couple of days. But mentally, she felt that she needed some time to herself; living in Sunnydale just opened the wounds more because it reminded her of what Gnarl had did to her. Lying. Manipulating. Greed. Torture. 

The spiritual healing was trying to heal Willow's mind—it just couldn't easily be accomplished by living in the spare bedroom in Buffy's house with various vampires and demons running amok during nighttime. She needed some complete, utter silent time for her mental state to fully recover. She had decided to rent a house in nearby Haddonfield, which was only a couple of miles from Sunnydale. 

*** 

"I have a real creepy feeling about this house," Buffy said, looking warily about the house. Something about this particular house gave her a strong sense of the heebie-jeebies, but she couldn't exactly place her finger on what it was. "Couldn't you have gotten a house with more modern amenities, such as working lights?" 

"Buffy, this was the cheapest house listed in Haddonfield," Willow countered, distractedly slitting the boxes open with a set of keys. She began to unwrap her spell book from the cushioning layers of tissue paper. "Besides, I've already got a job just from managing the magic shop in downtown Sunnydale. I'll be fine." 

"You're sure?" Anya asked carelessly, helping Xander and Dawn carry in the immensely large couch that Willow had in storage and set it behind Willow on the bare living room carpet. "Vampires and demons are also present here in Haddonfield. I've heard that Angel and Cord have it pretty bad in Los Angeles." 

"I'll be _fine_," Willow said through gritted teeth, setting the spell book down with exasperation. "I've got extra crosses, stakes and holy water in my trunk. I can handle my own. I know kung fu and my magic is becoming more powerful as I learn more." 

"Oooh, Willow's gonna be a black belt ninja. Ko-ya!" Xander jeered, feebly mimicking a karate chop with his two hands. 

"Xander, that big mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble someday," Dawn shook her head exasperatedly. "And I do mean the law, big boy." 

"Let it go," Buffy said, patting Xander's back. "Willow really needs some time to herself." 

*** 

"At last," purred Gnarl, pushing the graveyard gate open as he stumbled his way inside. The vampire-dust trick that he played on the Slayer to make her believe that he was dead had worked, but when the Slayer had interrupted his leisurely feast upon the ripe Wicca had weakened him. He knew some tricks to restore his strength back and gain revenge upon the Slayer and the Wicca for foiling his plans. 

Gnarl's regenerated eyes locked onto a particular tombstone and he smiled deviously, the bright yellow eyes turning a malevolent red. "Ah hah. My plan has arrived." Without another thought, he bit into the flesh of his left claw. 

Black blood—demon blood—gushed from the wound. Using his right claw to pool a large amount of blood into it, Gnarl licked the wound on his left hand to heal it. Using the tip of his index finger, Gnarl dipped a long claw into the black blood. 

Gnarl lowered the claw in front of the gravestone, onto the ground and began to carefully inscribe a strange symbol on the ground. More precisely, two Celtic rune symbols onto the ground. Once finishing inscribing the symbols on the ground, Gnarl used the remaining blood in his hand to inscribe a similar Celtic symbol onto the gravestone itself. 

"Michael Myers," Gnarl read slowly on the name inscribed onto the gravestone, his lips lifting into a malevolent grin. "You will soon rise again." 


	2. Chapter 2: Fear and the Cavalry

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Disclaimer: _Standard rule applies to what I said in the other disclaimer. Don't own Buffy ©, which belongs to Joss Whedon and UPN/FX. Halloween is owned by Compass International Pictures, Dimension Films and Anchor Bay Entertainment. Angel and Cordelia now enter the picture (Angel © belongs to Joss Whedon and the WB), but I'm trying to make a true horror story that brings some chills. And that I'm trying my very best to generate actual suspense in here, so don't flame me. Rated R for gore and profanity (just one mild obscenity and an F-word). The disclaimer here applies for all following chapters, as so to not waste precious space. --M. C._

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Chapter 2: Fear and the Cavalry

"So, how'd it go, the first day living by yourself?" Buffy asked Willow brightly, walking along the darkened streets of Sunnydale. It was a few days after Willow had moved in the new abandoned house in Haddonfield and Willow had come by to pay Buffy and the other Scoobies a brief visit before going back.

Willow paused, uncertain. "Well, it went fairly well. The usual stuff you encounter when you move in a house by yourself—fear, uncertainty, loneliness, the usual. The days that followed were better, I healed better, but I just have these unsettling feelings that somebody was watching me. Watching my every move, even when I'm out of the house and managing the shop. More often or not, I see a man far away. His features are often undistinguishable, and he seems to be wearing a pale white mask with tousled hair and wearing an electrician's suit. He doesn't talk to me—nothing—he just looks at me. His eyes seem to stare right through me. But when I turn around—even just for a second, he's gone. Just like that."

"Hmmm," Buffy wondered. "Is it yet another apocalypse demon who's stalking you, or is it a modernized psychotic version of Freddy Krueger?"

"I don't know," Willow said truthfully. "Could be a figment of my overactive imagination or the like." She looked at her watch. "Oh, shoot. It's five minutes to nine. Anya said she'd spot for me, managing the store until nine. I hope she didn't mess up half the orders. Anyway, Spike will be here any moment now to spot you."

"Okay," Buffy gave in. She patted Willow's back. "Heal up quickly for us, remember? It gets lonely here and Dawn is more of an nuisance, per usual, because she has only a few things to do after she does her homework and she has me now to pester."

"I will. Thanks, Buff." Willow waved goodbye, then took leave of her friend and headed down the alley and into the cul-de-sac to the store.

***

A gust of crisp autumn air grazed Willow's face as she made her way to the double doors that opened into the magic shop, when she again felt the unsettling feeling that someone was watching her. Fingering a stake hidden up the shirt sleeve, Willow grasped it, lest a vampire would try to ambush her. Then she counted to two, then spun around at the ready, ready to stake if necessary. To her immense surprise and disbelief, nobody was there. 

Just an empty walkway. 

Willow, her eyes slit with suspicion, turned around again to open the doors. Still, the unsettling watched feeling hadn't been appealed, and had come back, stronger than ever. Quickly, Willow opened the doors and hurried inside.

As she made her way inside the shop, an unusual silence greet her. Usually when Anya managed the shop, she'd been throwing frequent arguments with the consumers that frequented the shop about their orders, or was in the storeroom watching TV if she got bored.

But complete, utter silence remained. Willow couldn't hear the television blaring in the foreground and her gut told her told her that something was wrong. 

__

Very wrong.

Hurrying to the cashier counter, Willow looked around frantically, and to her immense shock, found an unconscious—possibly dead—Anya lying on the floor in a steadily growing puddle of blood, stemming from a cut on her right wrist.

"Oh my God—Anya!" Willow choked out in shock as she hurriedly examined the prone ex-demon on the floor. "Please don't be dead, please don't be dead..." She lifted up Anya's left wrist—the one that wasn't cut—and felt for a pulse.

Willow waited several long, agonizing moments before detecting a faint, fluttery pulse in Anya's body. Anya was thankfully alive—but barely. If Willow didn't staunch the blood flow stemming from her body soon, Anya would die.

"She isn't dead," came a startlingly familiar voice. "Not yet." Startled, Willow turned around and encountered the ghoulishly familiar face of that ghoul who tortured her as he ate of her own flesh. Gnarl.

"You," Willow said slowly, backing away. "How'd... how'd you get back to life?"

"I simply pretended to be dead when your beautiful friend staked me," Gnarl said, smiling awfully, showing green tinged sharp teeth in his mirthless grimace. "Oh, I'm sorry about the mess." He gestured with one claw to the bleeding Anya. "As far as I'm concerned, I'm not fully alive... yet."

He gestured again expansively with his claw. "Blood from ex-demons doesn't get me off, nor does it taste particularly good. But it helps me gain back my full power—a little at a time. And once I get it back..." He trailed off, purposefully. "Well, just wait on All Hallow's Eve and see..."

He disappeared, laughing evilly as he disappeared as he left as quickly as he came. But no sooner as he left, when Willow nearly collapsed on Anya's unconscious form.

Tears welled in her eyes, but Willow took a deep breath and swallowed her emotions. She could cry later, but that would be when Anya would be safe in the hospital. She needed to hold it together. 

For her. For Xander. For Buffy. For all of them.

Taking another deep breath, Willow stood over Anya's prone body and quickly whispered a hurried incantation. The blood flowing from Anya's wrist slowed to a trickle and finally stopped.

Willow smiled in relief. She knew Anya would be all right, but just the same, she would get the paramedics in to check in on her and bandage up her wrist and everything.

***

"Thank God," Buffy hung up the phone and sighed in relief at the worried expressions on everyone's faces. "Everything's all right at the hospital. Willow's staying with her just to make sure Anya's all right. That blood clotting spell that Willow performed saved Anya's life. The people sewed up the cut and she's got a mild concussion, but other than that, she's perfectly fine. She needs another day to recover from the loss of blood, though."

"What about the bloody demon?" Spike growled, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. "The one that chewed on Willow till you came along and supposedly killed it. Now it's back and wants revenge. What about that?"

"And that it's going to come back on Halloween?" Dawn wondered. "It sounds something really serious. I think we going to need all the help we need. Halloween is a potential day for demons and other unworldly creatures to wreck havoc on the world."

"And you can't have enough precautions," Xander said thoughtfully. "We gonna need Riley and the A. I. in on this?"

"I suppose so," Buffy said thoughtfully. "In fact, I think we might need Oz here as well. He might be a professional about such things such as unkillable demons."

"Since when do werewolves know extensively about demons in particular?" Xander challenged.

Buffy sighed. "Xander, just shup up."

"She _means_ that we need all the people that we know who might have a clue about killing this demon need to be here before Halloween," Dawn clarified, somehow unnecessarily.

"Of course he knew that," Spike shot a poisonous glare at Xander. "How can you joke around an event like this? Especially after the bloody love of your fucking life nearly got killed?"

"Just trying to break the tension," Xander said meekly.

***

"Angel Investigations," Cordelia said automatically, after picking up the phone. "How can I—oh, hi Xander. How your potentially foul dating life going?"

"Cordelia, shut _up_," Xander snapped. "Willow's in danger. We and especially Buffy—"

"How can Buffy be—"

"Look, we don't have time for current events now," Xander said. "We need you and Angel to come down back to Sunnydale ASAP. If you can, bring as much people as you can to help us. We need as much help to help protect Willow on Halloween Day and Night."

Cordelia agreed, said goodbye, then put the phone down. She headed for the kitchen, paused and then bit her lip nervously before entering. This was going to be hard for Angel, after learning about his son. And now about Buffy being resurrected...

She swallowed again, then finally said, "Hey, Angel, Xander called..."

***

Xander entered the living room and sat down across from Buffy on the couch. "Well, that took care of it. Ms. Snotty and Angel will be coming as soon as they can."

"Did Cord take it well?" Dawn asked, looking up from her English homework on the floor. "About the part about Buffy being risen from the dead and all, I mean."

"Well, I didn't tell her any exact details about Buffy being resurrected, but Cord did seem pretty shocked that you were alive," Xander said, speaking to Buffy now. "Knowing Angel, they'd probably be halfway the way here by now."


	3. Chapter 3: Old Wounds Open Anew

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Disclaimer: _I know, I know, this came after Chapter 2, and the date of the day that takes place on this chapter is October 29, which does seem anachronistic considering the day of the first chapter takes place... never mind. From now on, consider this chapter to be the countdown until Halloween night. I don't know exactly what will happen on Halloween night, but rest assured, there will be lots of terror, gore and some sex (just kidding on the sex). Critique and review is always critical for this story to keep on going after this point. This is just a filler chapter, really nothing happens, just some character interaction, 'kay? Thanks. --M. C._

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Chapter 3: Old Wounds Open Anew

Angel sat there numbly, leaning back against the smooth dark leather of the limousine, still reeling from the over sensory of what had just occurred. Cordelia had told him the news an hour ago, and he was shocked that the woman that he had still a special place for in his heart had came back to life. Coupled with the news that had come with the news of his son, and Angel was overwhelmed. 

Cordelia had called up a limousine to take them up to Sunnydale from Los Angeles, as it was the most painless way to get around in the daytime without having Angel burn to a crisp.

Cordelia sat on the opposite side of Angel, watching him closely throughout the four-hour-long ride. Finally, Angel broke the silence.

"How... how could Buffy be alive, when Willow told us she was dead?" Angel stammered, looking at Cordelia with a mixture of grief, amazement and happiness. "When... after all this time..."

"Xander didn't tell me much," Cordelia said, looking at Angel carefully. "He just told me that Buffy was alive and that she needed me and you to come to Sunnydale. She'll tell you the full news when we get there.

"Knowing Xander, he probably wanted me to come. I wonder how his dating life has become without me in his face all the time." Cordelia mused.

Angel's face finally broke out into a wan smile. "I bet he's dying to suck face with you already. Leaving him in Sunnydale and coming with me to LA was tough on him."

"I bet."

***

"They're here!" Dawn tore her gaze from the television and rushed to the door. It was eight o'clock in the night, and it had been five hours since Xander had last called Cordelia.

She ran to the door and yanked it open, to reveal a tall, broad handsome man with closely-cropped brown hair and a petite thin brunette with well-kept short hair. _So this is what Angel and Cordelia look like, _Dawn thought. 

"So, you two are Angel and Cordelia. I'm—" Dawn began, but Cordelia held up a hand.

"Dawn Summers?" Cordelia asked. Dawn nodded. 

"Yeah, Willow's told much about—" Cordelia stopped in mid-response, gaping at the people behind Dawn. Dawn turned around, to see Willow, Buffy, Anya, Xander and Spike coming down the stairs. Her eyes brimmed with tears. 

"Oh, Xander—!" Cordelia rushed past Dawn without finishing her response. She rushed into Xander's arms and kissed him deeply, much to Xander's surprise/chagrin. She and Xander kissed for a while, then Xander extracted himself from her embrace.

"What's the matter?" Cordelia asked, looking into his troubled eyes. "Xander, is something wrong?"

"I—" Xander stopped in mid-response, then sighed heavily. "It's been so long, Cordelia. I... I really don't know. We've got so much to tell you. It's best if we skived off our private time until later. We've got more important things."

"More important than _us_?" Cordelia asked, indignant and hurt mixed in her eyes. 

Xander didn't answer, he was looking at Anya intently. Anya was carefully keeping her face neutral, showing no sign of anger or any other emotion. Cordelia realized this with an sudden drop of her stomach.

__

Oh no! Cordelia thought. _How could I have been so _stupid_! I didn't know that Xander and Anya were _dating_! If I had known about it, I wouldn't have kissed him in the first place. Now I've really ticked Anya off._

"Xander, if you and Anya are dating, then I'm sorry that I kissed you, I—" Cordelia stammered. "I didn't know what I was doing, I thought you were still single... it's just that I'm really, _really_ sorry. I shouldn't have acted this way." She shook her head. "I mean, I was happy to see you and I didn't think straight."

"Look, it's okay," Xander said softly. "I realized this, and I'm pretty sure that Anay did. Right, Anya?"

Anya sighed. "I guess you're right, Xander."

Xander then turned back to Cordelia. "We'll talk about this later, okay?"

Cordelia nodded. "I bet you will have a lot to discuss with her. Go. She needs you."

Xander nodded. "I guess you're right."

***

Anya shut the bedroom door. Making sure that it was secure, she then promptly turned to Xander, sitting on the edge of the bedspread.

"Okay flyboy," Anya said, sitting down beside Xander, her eyes locked onto him the whole time. "Explain to me _why_ you kissed Cordelia."

"Okay, okay," Xander admitted. "Back before you came along, and when Cordelia and Angel were still here, me and Cordelia had a thing for each other."

"You mean... that you and Cordelia were dating?" Anya asked incredulously. "And yet, all this time, you forgot to tell _me_ about her when I came into your life and she was out of yours?"

"It was way back then," Xander stammered. "I hurt a lot the first couple of weeks after she and Angel took off for LA, and she gradually faded from view. We weren't a couple anymore. She was moving on with her new life and I with mine. And when she and Angel came around during this fiasco with Willow and the demon, it forced her back in my mind. I realize that I still have feelings for her, but... it isn't the same like it was a few years ago. You're still the woman that I love."

Anya was silent for a moment. "You're right. When you and Cordelia kissed each other, I felt a raging fire of jealousy, like my clients make me feel before they set me out on the people that wronged them when I was my former demonic self. I haven't felt that ever since I became human. Thanks for telling me that. It helps to understand human emotions better." She hugged Xander. "It helps to have a human boyfriend like you as well."

Xander returned the hug. "You too, Anya."

***

The doorbell rang. "I wonder who can that be?" Buffy looked up from the couch, as Willow answered the door.

"Oh, hey Oz!" Willow held the door open as the tall young man with short red hair made his way into the house.

"Hey Willow," Oz said as he and Willow briefly shared a kiss before turning to the company in the living room.

"Hey—what're you doing here?" Angel asked.

Willow responded before Oz could open his mouth. "I called him here. Figuring that he wasn't too far away, he probably has some knowledge of demons and the like."

"I don't _think_ so," Spike said, striking a match and lighting up a cigarette. Looking up at the astonished woman with a smirk partly marred by the cigarette between his lips, he regarded Willow with a look of amusement. "You just wanted him down here when Buffy announced she needed Angel and Cordelia down here. You just brought him just so that you can kiss and make up with him, just so that you won't be left out of this little love-fest."

"Aren't we all so _subtle_?" Willow shot an acid glance at Spike. "Perhaps you should stop tapping into my calls all the time?"

"Not this time, luv," Spike took in a deep breath of smoke. Taking out the cigarette, he blew out a big puff of smoke into the air. "I have an intuitive mind when I see the obvious coming about."

"Enough," Buffy said. She shot a quick glance at Spike. "We should be grateful that we need all the help because the prime target of Gnarl the demon, or whatever his name is, is Willow. We need to be on guard in Haddonfield two days from now. Which reminds me, we could get Riley on the case..."

"See! I knew she was gonna say that!" Spike said, pointing a finger at the dumbfounded blonde. "Aren't I clever?"


End file.
